


thirty thousand feet

by buccellati



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M, happy valentines day!! :D, soukan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 09:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buccellati/pseuds/buccellati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>everyone's afraid of something.</p>
<p>it's just that sometimes the thing someone's afraid of is avoidable, and sometimes someone's parents are making him fly out to visit his grandparents, in an airplane, thirty thousand feet in the air.</p>
<p>souji seta is really more of a car person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	thirty thousand feet

**Author's Note:**

> my first soukan fic i'm so proud of myself  
> i should probably start actually using capital letters and stuff when i write stories but i dunno, call it a stylistic thing haha
> 
> look there's even a funky souji/kanji fanmix i made that you can listen to while reading this  
> http://8tracks.com/indigofirebird/something-about-us

souji seta, when asked, will say he's not normally a nervous person.  
souji seta, when asked, will say he's not normally the type to tell white lies.  
souji seta, though unadmittedly, is a liar.

there is some truth in his statements, however. he's not normally nervous; he keeps a cool head, doesn't sweat the small stuff.

except when he's fidgeting in the middle of an airport, feeling like there's a puddle under his feet from the sweat dripping from every pore on his body. it's not the airport itself that makes him nervous, no. just what typically comes from being in an airport.

which is getting on a plane.

and flying.

thirty thousand feet in the air.

he doesn't really remember buying a donut, but he knows his wallet is considerably lighter as he sits at the terminal. airport food is damn expensive, and there's a balled up receipt in his hand. the leather--probably fake--beneath him is damp with the sweat from his palms, and he's inhaling the donut like it's the last thing he'll ever eat.

it's just a few hours, he thinks. a few hours in a huge, metal death trap thousands of feet in the air, and i'll be down on the ground.

his fingers hover over the screen of his phone, and he gives consideration to the thought of calling up his grandparents and saying, hey, sorry i might not be there on time, i think the plane is going to crash and i'm going to die.

he doesn't want his gran to worry, though. she's a very sweet woman.

souji seta very much wants to live through the rest of the day.

something blares from the airport loudspeaker; souji's heartbeat is thumping in his ears, but he hears something about boarding the plane. the flight he's supposed to be on, he realizes.

he brushes the remainder of the crumbs from where he was eating his donut, heading to the gate with one hand in his pocket, the other holding a small suitcase like a lifeline. there's a few people walking next to him, boarding the same flight, but souji feels like the hallway leading up to the door of the plane is flooded with people. he doesn't recognize anyone--they're all complete strangers, and though he's not surprised, he feels himself getting tenser. the inside of the plane is no better; it's cramped, and he feels as if his luggage is getting heavier with each step.

souji collapses in his seat, almost literally, and tries buckling his seatbelt with shaking hands. his hands are small, like a high school kid's should be, and they fumble on the buckle awkwardly.

"hey, uh.....need some help?"

souji seta looks up toward the direction of the voice, and almost passes out right there. the guy towers over him, a scary-looking blond with a scar above one of his eyebrows and piercings up and down his ears.

"dude, you mute or somethin'?!"

the blond barks with a sudden change of mood, and souji jumps in his seat. "no, i'm...i'm good. i got it." his voice is less shaky than his hands, and it surprises both of them, they can see it on each other's faces.

souji fumbles with the seatbelt some more, until accepting silent defeat. the blond reaches over from his seat next to souji casually, pushing one end of the belt into the other with a soft click. they don't speak, don't look at each other, just sit and stare at the floor.

the plane's engines start with a roar, and souji jumps again. he grabs the armrests, knuckles turning white, as it starts down the runway, and the blond boy looks over with a tiny smirk. they make eye contact and the blond's face flushes, his face showing embarrassment as he turns his head away.

the "metal death cage" glides into the air with the littlest of bumps, and souji leans back in his seat, color returning to his knuckles and his face. out of the corner of his eye, he sees the other boy looking at him with what seems like a bit of interest, yet their eyes never really meet for more than a second before one of the two looks away.

the silence gets thick and heavy, and souji knows they're both itching to break it, yet struggling to find the right words. souji opens his mouth--just as the other boy does, and they both forget about it, fidgeting awkwardly and looking away.

the blond opens his mouth again, beating souji to the punch this time. "uhh...f-first time on a plane, huh? you've kinda got that, um, look." souji nods, and the blond's eyes open wide as if he's realized something awful. "dammit! i keep forgettin' to introduce myself--name's kanji. kanji tatsumi."

souji nods. "i'm souji seta...nice to meet you. and yeah, i'm really more of a car guy."

kanji chuckles warmly, and souji is surprised at how...warm it is. how un-scary kanji seems to be after a few sentences.

"well...if it helps at all, the food on this airline is damn good. if tickets weren't so expensive i'd take a flight every day just for the food they give ya, y'know? i'm gonna start drooling just thinkin' about it, man..."

souji cracks a smile, the first he's had since he arrived at the airport. he checks his watch; it's been half an hour since liftoff, but it feels like forever ago to him.

"anyway...if you're still all nervous, we could try, uh, talkin' about somethin', to get your mind off it..." kanji's got a little extra color in his cheeks, and souji smiles again. "sounds good to me."

"awesome! so, uh, where are you headin', anyway? my mom's sendin' me out to visit my cousins, or somethin' like that. i haven't seen 'em since i was a tiny little kid, i don't even think they'll recognize me. it seriously ain't worth it!" the blond is pouting, and souji lowers his verbal filter a little.

"i dunno, you sort of look like a little kid to me, pouting and all."

kanji goes beet-red in an instant, "you take that back! i ain't a kid, shithead!" he's causing a bit of a scene, but souji's doubled over laughing. he's never seen a reaction like that before--hell, he's never had a reaction like his before, either. something about kanji just amuses the hell out of him, and he almost forgets he's thirty thousand feet in the air.

almost.

suddenly, the plane trembles--so does souji. through some kind of instinct, or a fight or flight response, he's grabbing onto the armrests so hard he feels like his hands might get stuck in that position forever.

the pilot's voice comes over the speaker--something about a slight bit of turbulence, something about it being over soon. souji can only think about how he just wants it to be over now, as in, as soon as possible.

he feels a hand on his back, sturdy and strong, and he jumps in his seat. kanji's face next to him is an awkward combination of flustered and determined, and souji closes his eyes.

after what feels like an eternity, the plane passes the last of the turbulance, and kanji's hand disappears from souji's back as the gray-haired boy leans backwards, staring wearily at the ceiling of the metal bird.

"hey...you're okay." kanji's voice is a little softer than before, though not without its usual roughness. souji nods, exhaling slowly.

"you've got big hands." it's not really the first thing he usually notices about someone, souji admits to himself. but it's true, he admits again.

kanji shrugs, and souji sees it out of the corner of his eye. "y-yeah, you think...?" his cheeks are pink again, and souji grins. "hey, you ain't laughin' at me, are ya?!"

souji shakes his head, laughing. "nah, it's nothing. um, you just sorta...look funny when you blush like that? you're this big huge guy, getting flustered about me calling your hands big."

kanji scowls, cheeks turning an even darker shade of rose. "i-i ain't flustered."

"you are."

"aren't."

"are."

"no i ain't!"

souji laughs again, and his face feels warm. it's a strange sensation, kind of like getting goosebumps when it's hot outside. the two of them go quiet for a while; souji looking out the window at the clouds, kanji looking down at his feet. the clouds remind the gray-haired boy that they still are thirty thousand feet in the air, but somehow, it doesn't bother him.

kanji's hand is lying on the armrest, and souji sees it out of the corner of his eye.

souji seta, when asked, will say he's not normally an impulsive person.  
souji seta, though unadmittedly, is a liar.

he lays his hand on top of the blond's, and he feels his own pulse quicken. it surprises him, and his face gets heated just as he realizes what he's done. kanji isn't looking at him; instead the tall boy's eyes are still glued to the floor, free hand covering his undeniably beet-red face. he doesn't move his other hand, though, just leaves it as it is.

"i think--um, i-i...the plane's landin' soon." he mutters a few words almost incoherently, stuttering and tripping over them. raising his head, his gray eyes meet souji's for the first time after an uncomfortably long pause.

both their faces grow redder and they break eye contact after seconds. souji's heart is beating nearly as fast as it was before boarding the plane, though not out of fear this time.

"i think so too," the shorter boy nods, staring out the window as the plane seems to be descending.

they spend the rest of the flight in silence, and neither of them notice that their fingers have somehow become interlocked.

their respective luggage only needs one hand to carry, and their fingers remained locked while walking down the long hallway to the gate. souji's hand is sweaty, shaking a little, but he can't tell if that's just him or if it's kanji as well. the blond boy feels the same, and his face deepens to the color of ripe raspberries.

the two stop walking as they reach the outside of the airport. the air is chillier here, and it makes souji shiver. it's unfriendly, unwelcoming, and somewhere completely new, tainted with the smell of car engines and airplane engines and thick diesel.

"i think..." souji opens his mouth, closing it again shortly. he doesn't want to say what's on his mind; he wants to stand there, kanji at his side, until their clothes stink of gasoline and they're chilled to the bone.

he opens his mouth again anyway. "i think i ought to go now."

the red color slowly but surely drains out of kanji's face, but his face is resolute and unchanging. "yeah, me too."

"so that's that then."

"that's that."

their fingers slip away from each other, and souji feels the cold more than ever now that he's not sharing another person's body heat. it feels lonely, and he despises it. kanji's footsteps are echoing away already, the tall boy walking towards a bright yellow taxi with long strides and a downcast expression.

the taxi's door handle is unwelcoming beneath his hand, but he pulls it open anyway. the inside of the cab smells unfriendly, and the seat is just a little too stiff.

kanji closes the door. "where to, mister?" the cab driver asks. kanji knows where he's going, it's on the tip of his tongue, but his mind is clouded with other things. "uh....."

he hears the slamming of a door.

"here's the address." a piece of paper is handed forward, the cab driver taking it from a pale hand.

souji seta puts his luggage on his lap, turns his head, and smiles.

the cab driver starts the engine, glancing in the rearview mirror as the car shudders to life. the two passengers' lips are interlocked, making no sound but that of their heavy breathing.

the driver is glad it's going to be a quiet trip.


End file.
